Taika Waititi Fires Back at ‘Klara and the Sun’ Critics: ‘Irrelevant, Out of Touch, Obsolete’
Klara and the Sun has not been kind to Taika Waititi on Rotten Tomatoes, and the director is done staying quiet about it. The filmmaker fired back directly at critics over the Halloween weekend, calling them “irrelevant,” “out of touch” and “obsolete” after a wave of negative reviews greeted his Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams-led adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel.
Waititi Doesn’t Hold Back
Posting on Instagram, Waititi said he hasn’t read a review aimed at himself or his peers in almost fifteen years, but that he still listens to ordinary moviegoers. He then turned his attention to the reviewers themselves, writing that the same people who panned his film also hated Jojo Rabbit. “Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin,” he added, framing the post as a Halloween message for critics who, in his words, couldn’t make it as artists themselves. The post also highlighted a note suggesting the film was winning over everyday audiences despite the reviews.
Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, the AI companion at the center of Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel.
A Rough Ride at the Box Office
The critical backlash has lined up with a tough theatrical run. Klara and the Sun has pulled in just over $1 million domestically since opening on October 23, and reporting around Waititi’s post points to Sony Pictures scaling back the film’s international rollout as a result. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently sits in the mid-20s percent with critics, though regular audiences have rated it far more warmly, somewhere in the 70s. That critic-audience gap is exactly the divide Waititi’s post was aimed at.
It’s a rare box office and critical stumble for Waititi, whose take on Ishiguro’s story about an artificial friend navigating love, mortality and human connection also stars Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi and Rachel House. Whether his Instagram post wins back any goodwill or just deepens the divide between critics and audiences, Waititi has made clear he isn’t backing down from the film he made.
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Picture Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment
